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Workshops

Let’s try something really retro – I’m going to write about myself in an honest, awkward way in my blog posts! I think I saw Peter today. Actually, I know I saw Peter – but whether or not the person in front of me was actually Peter, or was in fact a person, is hard to determine. Here’s what I… Read more →

Aside

There are people that want to hear more. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. I’ve been quite clear with Marie that I do NOT want my life to be the trans channel, Sidekick edition. Right now I’m dealing with some entitlement-to-identity issues both in private and in public, and I am going to say something that I often back up with friends of varying genders and sexualities:
nobody gets to say whether I’m gay, straight, heteroflexible, or anything else EXCEPT FOR ME. MY IDENTITY IS SACROSANCT, AND SO IS YOURS. It does not matter if my identity aligns with the in-power populace; certainly I now have less power than my mainstream equivalents by choosing to keep my commitment to my marriage – and let’s be honest, to my health. Denying my right to identify/define myself is a violation on a deep level, and it is not okay.
Respect that or GTFO.

Before this post can begin, some basics need to be established. Gender is not a choice. Neither is being transgender. Gender has no relationship whatsoever to sexual orientation. That’s a really, really difficult one to grasp for a lot of people, so please practice. It might help to back up and view bisexuality as a normal, real thing that happens… Read more →

So you want to read more stuff by me? Well, it’s still witchy – that’s been my wheelhouse for twenty years now. First, on July 7, amidst the calendars and datebooks and almanacs galore (of which I have contributed to a few) is this: My first of two contributions to the Llewellyn Sabbat Essentials series. Yes, this is about the… Read more →

T-shirt surgery, for the uninitiated, involves taking a T-shirt and hacking it down into a different, less basic design. It’s an old punk rocker thing – and since I have a bit of latent punk in me, it’s a natural extension of my shopping life. That’s me – Chanel Coco Mademoiselle on my skin, safety pins on my shirt. I… Read more →

Status

diana

Posted on May 4, 2015 at 8:30 am

An update: the Artist’s Way Class – has not worked out. This is OK, as I may have an opportunity to work with an organization out in the Sunset later on. I’ll have to follow up about forms and the like. It is not dead, it is merely postponed, and the landlord of the space I rented has very easily replaced me. I just have a month of Mondays that I need to decide how and whether to fill. I was kindly advised that perhaps I should build up my reputation first. Perhaps…but the arts scene in San Francisco looks pretty scattershot to me already, and that may be true with the older crowd but not as much with the younger crowd. Either way, I think a drop-in workshop situation is a better fit for me right now – and I will feel better with more time to do some deep planning, and with more time to visit local shops and see what I can offer. The Outer Richmond has many, many benefits, but its distance from absolutely everything else and the poor transit in and out is absolutely a handicap.

So this week:

Read two review books for Facing North. I’m already halfway through one, and I’d love to knock these books out as soon as I get them. I’m trying to spend a little more time reading off my considerable home library, as well.

There was that prayers for Pagan Children poetry anthology. I still want to contribute.

There’s a chapter on Urban Wicca I need to finish.

I’ve also re-instituted the Artist’s Way for myself. I have four easy sources for artist’s dates: Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, Ocean Beach, and the Richmond itself. Why? They take the least work to get to and thus might have a chance of not taking up my *entire* day.

In the meantime, I am making an effort to reach out to the local Pagans a bit more. I also need to make some decisions regarding my Artist’s Way meetup group – it might serve as a good place for me to announce other workshops I’m teaching in other areas. It’s weird – I used to teach workshops no problem, some planning, but good to go. Now I get a little more brain freeze, and a little more trouble with public speaking.

Thought I’d renew my habit of publishing links to things I’ve recently written. In this case, it’s Facing North reviews. I have been (sort of) keeping up with that work – and making requests for books with a tiny bit more conservatism now that I have larger projects of my own to handle. I also, in my fantasy world, daydream… Read more →

Status

diana

Posted on April 20, 2015 at 8:00 am

So it’s my partner’s and my 11th anniversary. Let’s take bets on who remembers what.

The writer’s to do did get put aside for a bit – I had some difficult things happening in my personal life, and that sinus infection? It found a way to stretch for 40 days. This wasn’t the simple sniffles of just-past-allergies cold either. This was round #3 with existential crisis inducing illness. It finally succeeded in being there for an existential crisis. I’ve got to add St. Johnswort to my round of meds every time I get sick from now on. The things that got destroyed needed destroying, but it seems more like a targeted unfair than it does the usual unfairness of a random universe.

Priorities:

I am reframing and postponing my Artist’s Way Class in hope of getting more students. I had one show up for my first session, and that won’t work out with that particular person. I also know more about parking and traffic that time of day, so that may help.

The Pagan Consent Culture piece – it has been accepted but requires edits, most of which are research based. So while I want to add in material, I have to add in sourcing so that takes 2-3 times longer than just typing in a few changes.

The proofing copy of my Samhain book has landed – and that is due at the end of May.

I need to make a full length chapter for a proposal for the urban Wicca book. It’s been a slog.

That’s four.

Backburnered:

Blog essays I still have waiting in draft.

The Pagan Children’s poetry anthology.

I have been asked if I am going to return to blogging my personal life. I don’t know. I’m just out of the habit, I guess. I’ve noticed that anything less than fawning worship of San Francisco will get me verbally attacked in multiple fora. Given that I’m in a rather delicate position, I’d rather not invite the undeserved trouble that often comes from observation and honesty about my feelings.

So the Monday writer’s to do is being set aside for me to update you on my newest endeavor: the Artist’s Way San Francisco class! If you struggle with trying to get started on a project, or moreso with keeping going, the Artist’s Way has methods intended to help that. While directed at writers, painters, actors, and musicians it can… Read more →

Status

diana

Posted on March 30, 2015 at 6:21 am

So here’s a reality of writing not oft spoken of: the reality that sometimes you have to drop something. That means that at times in life, anthologies must float by without a submission, stories must get tabled, and that blog post doesn’t get made. Situations like that happened last week when I didn’t just have a sinus infection, I had a full on relapse of the same goddamn cold. I am now waiting for the mucus to stop pooling behind my ears and then I can get on with my life.

So, dropped from the to-do rotation:

The Poseidon anthology. It wasn’t going to happen when I went through a second round of unconsciousness thanks to a gnarly sinus infection.

For the moment, all Facing North book reviews are caught up – including one for a book I got in the mail Friday. While I have ambitions of an occultist’s Brain Pickings style blog, this is not the year for that to happen.

The Publicity update for Divorcing a Real Witch – while I didn’t win the Diagram Prize (to the disappointment of sensationalist headline writers everywhere) I came in first runner up – with a vote margin of 1%.

Creating and posting an outline for print copy owners of Divorcing a Real Witch.

Added to the list this week:

Finish out a chapter on the Urban Wicca book – my agent needs a complete proposal. It would have been better if I’d done it BEFORE she went to a national conference.

Time to start planning proposals for Llewellyn annuals. It usually starts in March nowadays and with the editorial shuffle I can’t count on a friendly email asking for a pitch.

There are 30 blog posts in queue on this blog that I have yet to post. Perhaps it’s time to start editing and scheduling those.

Given Priority for the Week:

Situations happen that force you to move one project ahead of another for any number of reasons. If you’re especially lucky – and adept at time management- they are for reasons other than “Oh shit! That’s due!”

In this case, I happened to find a super reasonably priced space to teach my Artist’s Way class at. I had hoped to get the lesson plans done first, but hey, I have a space to teach. So this week my effort goes into:

Setting up artistswaysf.com website for Artist’s Way San Francisco. This includes payment systems, etc.

Finishing writing up that full curriculum. Adding the “insert” curriculum for magical people.

Advertising/promoting the class – I need to spread the word EVERYWHERE but the most efficient ways to do so are a little foggy around here. The “if you build it they will come” method is not so reliable in this day and age of everybody building it. If you know where/how to get the word out in arts circles around San Francisco, do tell me. I am starting with Craig’s List but that can be hit or miss in terms of response. I only need 3 students to make the class sustainable. I can go up to 12.

Writing up a biography, taking some self-portraits, getting all that stuff up and ready so that people can see who and what they’re signing up for.